Energy, safety, connectivity, processes – Airport performance is really taking off 🛫
The air transport sector is moving in the right direction: with more than five billion passengers and over 1,000 billion dollars in sales, airlines are set for spectacular growth in 2025. From optimised baggage handling systems to sustainability in fire protection systems, and innovations such as digital control towers, site electrification and energy self-consumption, the various VINCI Energies brands and business units involved are working constantly to improve performance in airports across the world.
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Airports under pressure
From process improvement and sustainable development to connectivity, safety and security – growth in air traffic is creating immense challenges for airports. But solutions do exist, and they require specific expertise.
Analysis with Olivier Jankovec , CEO of Airports Council International (ACI Europe).
"More than 70% of the electricity consumed in our airports is carbon-free"
The world’s largest private airport operator, with more than 70 airports in 14 countries, VINCI Airports is leading the way on the major challenges facing the sector: decarbonisation, energy efficiency and frugality, safety, and security.
Interview with Pierre-Hugues Schmit, Chief Commercial and Operational Officer at VINCI Airports, and Joffrey Maï, Environment & Sustainability Director of VINCI Concessions.
Fire prevention in Belgian airports with Cegelec Fire Solutions
Cegelec Fire Solutions operates a team of eight technicians, with four to six permanently based on site, to supply, install and manage sprinkler systems in operational buildings, parking areas and retail outlets at Belgian airports.
Koen De Spiegeleer , Operations Manager at Cegelec Fire Solutions in Belgium, explains: "The work we carry out is very varied in terms of the type of requests, but also the size of the projects. They range from larger projects, such as securing car parks and lounges, to the renovation and conversion of shops, public spaces, modifications to baggage sorting areas, etc. For shops, for example, we have to install a fire extinguisher. As far as shops are concerned, for example, we intervene on average every four or five years, particularly during the regular renovation of points of sale."
Secure connectivity for Spanish airports
Axians Spain is a longstanding partner of Aena , helping to provide reliable, secure communications at many Spanish airports.
For almost 25 years, Axians Spain has been supporting Aena Aeropuertos, one of the world’s largest airport operators, which manages 46 airports and two heliports in Spain, and is directly or indirectly involved in managing another 23 airports worldwide.
Axians , the VINCI Energies ICT brand, works with all the operator’s airports in Spain to fulfil their communications network needs.
Jose Sarabia Arconada , Project Manager at Axians España, explains:
“We play a key role in installing Wi-Fi and corporate networks, as well as SDN [software-defined networking] networks, to facilitate secure data communication throughout the airport,”
How Faro Airport is safeguarding water resources
Periods of drought are regular events in Portugal. To preserve water resources, #VINCIEnergies is recovering water from Faro Airport’s heating and climate control system and reusing it in cleaning operations.
2,600 litres of water are collected every week
André Parente , Director at VINCI Energies Portugal:
"By reusing condensate from HVAC systems, we reduce the amount of water extracted from rivers and aquifers."
Environmental and energy performance for the future digital
In Belgium, a new building for Société wallonne des Aéroport (SOWAER) will accommodate its company headquarters alongside the digital control tower centre for the airports in Charleroi and Liège. Several VINCI Energies business units are involved in this project, which combines technological innovation with energy performance and climate considerations.
In partnership with builder Thomas & Piron on Bâtiment and VINCI Facilities , which will maintain the installations for the first five years of the building's operation, Cegelec Electrical Solutions is playing a major role in this atypical project.
“Our mission is to design and install the building’s electrical, HVAC and sanitation systems,” says Vincent Werner , Buisness Unit Manager Unit at Cegelec Electrical Solutions.
➡️ If you would like to find out more about our expertise in the digital, environmental and energy transitions, visit our online media: The Agility Effect 📰